My little one is 6 days old and last night I started expressing as well.

What I was wondering was how much should I give her as when she feeds by herself I don't know how much it is!!!

I get about 3 ounces out from each boob in about half an hour and she guzzled that!!

Someone said earlier that I should only be giving her the size of her closed hand!!

Today she was on the boob for about 40 mins. 1 hour later she drank 2 ounces from a bottle (of my milk)
Should I be concerned that this is too much??

Any advice greatly appreciated

March 2nd, 2012, 03:48 PM

@llli*maddieb

Re: How much milk ???

Why are you expressing and bottle feeding? Is this as well as baby nursing, in order to supplement due to weight gain concerns? Or to prepare baby for having bottles later, or due to breastfeedign hurting, or what?

In the normal course of breastfeeding, baby is able to get all they need at the breast and pumping and bottles are not necessary until/if mom and baby are separated (due to work, school etc.) But if there are weight gain issues and supplementing is truly needed, then pumping and supplementing with your own milk is great, but only if needed. So I am just wondering why you are pumping and bottle feeding to help with answering your questions better.

BTW, a baby will take several ounces from a bottle even if they just nursed well. This alone is not a sign baby needs supplemental feedings. Plus, at this age, more than one feeding in a one hour period is perfectly normal.

March 2nd, 2012, 03:54 PM

@llli*linselira

Re: How much milk ???

Hi, my nipples are really, really sore and cracked. She has chiselled them and little bits falling off. I have been in a lot of pain and didn't think I could continue so started expressing whilst my nipples healed a bit (she is still feeding off my breast as well)
I would rather express and give her my milk than go to formula.
My ,midwife said it's totally fine and if it helps there's nothing wrong with doing this.
She is having approx 2 bottles a day and the rest breast

March 2nd, 2012, 03:57 PM

@llli*joe.s.mom

Re: How much milk ???

Quote:

Originally Posted by @llli*lllmeg

BTW, a baby will take several ounces from a bottle even if they just nursed well. This alone is not a sign baby needs supplemental feedings. Plus, at this age, more than one feeding in a one hour period is perfectly normal.

:ita Step away from the pump. For the first four weeks or so, it's best to just breastfeed, and not express at all. At that point, if you want to try introducing a bottle of expressed breastmilk, that would be a good time to try. But first you want to establish a good breastfeeding relationship and calibrate your supply to your baby's needs. The way to do this is to breastfeed your baby, every time she cues that she's hungry. :gvibes

ETA: Just saw your update. Have you seen a lactation consultant about your latch? I'm afraid your pain might be caused by a bad latch or some other problem. While a little soreness is normal, cracked and bleeding nipples are not. If you don't fix the underlying problem, pumping will not help you that much, you know? The very best thing for this sort of thing is to get some hands on help from a lactation, preferably a IBCLC.

March 2nd, 2012, 04:00 PM

@llli*mommal

Re: How much milk ???

:ita with lllMeg. If there is no medical need to supplement, it is best to delay pumping and bottle introduction until are breastfeeding is well established, something which typically happens at around 4-6 weeks. You and the baby want to master the tricky art of nursing before you introduce a complication into your relationship.

If there's a problem which requires you to supplement, please let us know what it is and we will do our best to help!

March 2nd, 2012, 04:24 PM

@llli*maddieb

Re: How much milk ???

OK that is a good reason to pump! No of course there is nothing wrong with giving your baby your expressed milk if you are unable to nurse at the breast. But introduction of bottles at this point certainly can cause issues, can even make latch more difficult, so that is something to be aware of.

Some IBCLC's will reccomend a mom stop nursing entirely for a couple of days when the damage is very great, and on the other hand, many moms find they can heal fine while nursing, it really depends on how quickly the latch issue is being solved and how bad the damage is. That's going to be very individual I suspect. But in the meantime, is anyone helping you solve the latch issue?

Nursing should NOT be doing that to you, there is obviously something wrong, most likely with the babies latch. This is almost always fixable, and at only 6 days that is certainly early enough that a solution is likely.

Is someone working with you on latch? I would strongly urge you to see an IBCLC if you have not already. When damage is this bad it's time to see a professional if that is at all possible, in my opinion.

Ok, to your question-If you are only pumping and giving bottles twice a day, I think 1-2 ounces is fine per feeding, of course babies tummy is very tiny now. Total feeds at the breast at this point would be a minimum of 10-12 times per 24 hour day. A baby will guzzle from the bottle this is why babies often overfeed at the bottle. An extra ounce from the bottle won't matter except that this can also make getting baby back to the breast harder.

Output will tell you if baby is getting enough overall. At least 3 'OK" poops per day is what you want to see by day 6. So, the size of the circle you make with thumb and pointer finger when you make an OK sign.

Cup or syringe feeding is also often reccomended when a bf baby needs supplements.

sorry for misspellings gotta run late to pick kid up at school-

March 4th, 2012, 08:21 AM

@llli*chicas

Re: How much milk ???

I found that the Dr. Brown "Premie" nipples are best for BF babies. They are universal and will fit any regular (not wide) bottle. I am back at work and use Ameda bottles with these nipples and baby takes 2-3 oz, every 3-4 hours while I am at work...which is what its recommended. If the flow of the nipple is too fast (even 0-3 month can be) then baby drinks the milk faster and can't differentiate the feeling of "fullness" and tend to overfeed. Once your nipples are healed, then ou should go back to the breast, as baby is the best pump.